Delayed In Planting Soybeans?

Thunderstorms and heavy rainfall have caused delays for soybean farmers. If you have both double-crop and single-crop soybean fields to be planted, find the field offering the best planting conditions, says Vince Davis, assistant professor of soybean production systems at the University of Illinois.

The most important condition to look for is dry fields. Soybeans in the double-crop rotation (following winter wheat) could perhaps be planted even earlier than some single-season fields, he says. The driest fields may be double-crop rotation fields with winter wheat because the wheat crop will have used the water in the fields faster than it would have evaporated.

But, if a rainfall occurs between harvesting the wheat and planting soybeans, it could mean an even wetter field, Davis says.